The creative aspects of the game are certainly disappointing, but if we look at Wild Things from a purely technical perspective, the picture is even worse (literally!). Despite playing the game on a current-gen system, I was amazed at how basic the overall design was. Everything from the character models to the jungle landscape looked incredibly simplistic. Trees were sparse, textures on the floor (as well as on the water) were repetitive, and the Wild Things had immobile, molded fur that looked like it was cemented down with hair gel. Add this to persistent framerate issues and a very dark and dour color scheme (think gun metal gray with a few greens mixed in) and you've got yourself a mess on screen.

The audio department isn't much better. As I said before, there is not much interaction between the Wild Things and Max, which means the voice over is sparse. I actually didn't mind the actor sound-alikes for the game, and I wish there was more dialog in the game, as it could have saved it from feeling so lifeless. The background music isn't bad, but it all too often slips into very slow pacing, which, coupled with the minimal voiceover, just enhanced the game's dismal vibe.

Wild Things doesn't give kids much to do, and there isn't much to the gameplay. Mindlessly following a Wild Thing and gathering items around a forested landscape does not make a game interesting. Even when a game is based on an existing property, you have to throw some kind of plot in there to give it a "point". This is Wild Thing's biggest shortcoming. It doesn't give you any motivation to keep going. Sure, you can go around collecting turtle shells or rock fragments, and after a successful collection you might get a few interesting words from a Wild Thing.

However, there is just so little content and the levels are so repetitive that Wild Things spends its cache of charm in the first few minutes, and once its gone, you'll be left asking yourself one question: When did the Wild Rumpus get so boring?

By Amanda L. Kondolojy
CCC Staff Contributor